This industry in Banbury is a very old
one, for the cakes are known to have been made there as far back as
1602, when the old Cross was pulled down, and are mentioned by Ben
Jonson, a great dramatist, and the friend of Shakespeare. He was Poet
Laureate from 1619, and had the honour of being buried in Westminster
Abbey. In his comedy _Bartholomew Fair_, published in 1614, he mentions
that a Banbury baker, whom he facetiously named Mr. "Zeal-of-the-Lord
Busy," had given up the making of these cakes "because they were served
at bridals and other profane feasts." This baker, we imagined, must have
been a Puritan, for from the reign of Queen Elizabeth to that of Charles
II Banbury had been noted for the large number of Puritans who lived
there, and for their religious zeal; they had even been accused of
altering the names of the staple industries of the town from "Cakes and
Ale" to "Cakes and Zeal," and were unpopular in some quarters, for
Braithwaite in his _Drunken Barnaby_ cuts at them rather savagely:
To Banbury came I, O profane one:
Where I saw a Puritane one
Hanging of his cat on Monday
For killing of a mouse on Sunday.
[Illustration: THE PURITAN.
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